It is known that vehicle wheels are composed of a cylindrical metal rim having, at the axial extremities, annular flanges between which a channel for the slot-in fitting of an elastic tire is defined.
In fitting configuration, the side portions of the tire, the so-called “beads”, are stopped up fast, or pressed against, the annular flanges of the rim.
Inside the tire, an inner tube can be fitted or, in the case of “tubeless” type tires, air under pressure can be introduced directly.
To perform the tire fitting and removal operations onto and from the relevant rims, so-called tire-changing machines are currently used which allow removing the tire from the relevant rim, e.g., to perform maintenance jobs or replace the inner tube, the rim and/or the tire itself, and then fit the same tire, or a replacement tire, back on the wheel rim.
Traditionally, tire-changing machines are composed of a base frame that supports gripping and rotating means for the wheel rim being worked upon.
The rotation axis of the gripping and rotating means can be vertical or horizontal according to the type of tire-changing machine.
One or more operating heads are mounted on the base frame, and include one or more tools for fitting and/or removing the tire onto and from the rim.
The tools used have different shapes and dimensions according to their intended use.
Some tools, for example, have a hook shape and are intended to be fitted between the beads of the tire and the corresponding annular flanges of the rim to detach them, during removal, and to press the beads inside the channel defined between the annular flanges, during fitting.
Other tools, on the other hand, have a truncated cone or cylindrical shape and are fitted revolving to act as pressing rollers intended to push the tire towards the inside of the rim channel during fitting, or towards the outside during removal.
The operating heads fitted on the tire-changing machine are operatively associated with automated operating means, such as pneumatic cylinders, hydraulic cylinders or the like, which perform the fitting and removal operation with greater force than a human being.
The operator operates the machine by means of the operating commands that control the movement of the operating heads, and the exact operation of the machine is obtained by means of the correct control of the tools.
Machines made this way, however, are susceptible to upgrading aimed at making them more practical to use and more precise in performing the fitting and removal operations.
With traditional machines in fact, the movement of the tools is inconveniently dependant on the professionalism and experience of the operator.
In particular, it must be noted that the most critical phases for the operator during the performance of the fitting and removal operations on a tire-changing machine are the following:                recognising the contact flange of the tire on the rim and the precise positioning of the tools close to it to perform the following operation phases;        the operation of the hook tools for removing the tire from the rim channel without causing excessive stress on the bead or breakages of its inner structure (above all in the case of more delicate tires such as low profile tires and runflat tires) and without touching and scratching the rim (above all in the case of prized rims such as alloy rims).        
More in general therefore, it is underlined that the ability of the operator to recognise the flange of the rim on which the tire comes into contact and his/her skills in correctly positioning the tools near the flange itself represents a current functional limit of the tire-changing machines.
In this respect, furthermore, it is specified that the difficulty in controlling traditional tire-changing machines inconveniently results in their only being able to be used by skilled and suitably trained personnel at a significant cost.